Ukraine, which was attacked by Russia, has sharply criticized calls by FDP Vice Wolfgang Kubicki for the Nord Stream 2 Baltic Sea pipeline to be opened. “The demands of some German politicians to start Nord Stream 2 for a short time and to close it later are completely irrational,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba wrote on Twitter on Friday. “It’s similar to drug addiction when someone says, ‘Just one last time!'” Kuleba criticized. “Addiction to Russian gas kills!”
In a report also published on Friday, Kubicki had demanded: “We should open Nord Stream 2 as soon as possible to fill our gas storage facilities for the winter.” He told the editorial network Germany (RND) that there was “no good reason not to open Nord Stream 2”.
Coal phase-out, climate change, sector coupling: The briefing for the energy and climate sector. For decision makers
If Russia’s President Vladimir Putin then stops supplying gas, Germany has lost nothing. “If more gas reaches us in this way, perhaps even the entire contractually guaranteed quantity, that will help people not have to freeze in winter and our industry will not suffer serious damage,” emphasized Kubicki. Ensuring this is the top priority of the federal government.
Precisely for this reason, other pipelines from Russia were not cut. “Once the gas storage tanks are full, we can close Nord Stream 2 again – and the other pipelines too, once we have become independent. But we’re not that yet,” said Kubicki.
When the interviewer pointed out that Putin would exploit this as a great success, the Bundestag Vice President said that everything that ensures that more gas gets here is of more use to Germany than to Putin. “By the way, Putin’s greatest propaganda success would be if we ran out of gas while he was still making good money from us. This must be prevented.”
The federal government has put the commissioning of the finished Nord Stream 2 pipeline on hold. Russia currently only supplies around 20 percent of the possible quantity via Nord Stream 1. The Russian gas company Gazprom blames technical reasons for this, the federal government considers this to be a pretense.
Kubicki also advocated exploring the possibilities of fracking in Germany in order to become less dependent on natural gas supplies. “Fracking can make a significant contribution to security of supply in Germany for decades,” said the FDP politician.
Fracking uses pressure and chemicals to extract gas or oil from rock layers. Critics see environmental dangers here. The method is banned in Germany, only test drilling is permitted.
Kubicki has received criticism for his proposal, including from within his own party. Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner clearly distances himself from the statements. Lindner considers the proposal to be “wrong and absurd,” said a spokeswoman for his Federal Ministry of Finance on Friday in Berlin. Lindner is FDP chairman. Deputy government spokesman Wolfgang Büchner said the federal government had no plans to put the pipeline into operation. Resuming the project is out of the question.
Russia is using energy policy as a weapon, and projects like Nord Stream 2 have brought Germany “into a dangerous dependency, which now brings with it this difficult situation,” explained FDP General Secretary Bijan Djir-Sarai to “Spiegel”. “Not to commission Nord Stream 2 was and is right.”
Kubicki doesn’t really believe that Putin’s Russia would suddenly supply gas through NS2. Russia only needs to use the existing capacities, but does not do so for (war) political reasons.
“Responding to the blackmail of an aggressor delivers one further to one’s arbitrariness and only weakens the position of Europe,” said party deputy Johannes Vogel. And defense expert Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann thinks: “We could rightly no longer show our allies, especially in the Baltic and Eastern Europe, and we would otherwise lose all self-respect.”
Foreign politician Alexander Graf Lambsdorff pointed out on Twitter that Russia could also supply gas through other pipelines such as Nord Stream 1 or Yamal. But if Nord Stream 2 were put into operation, Germany would “single-handedly destroy the political consensus in NATO and the EU”, which would be a “debacle”. Party leader and finance minister Christian Lindner shared this tweet on his channel.
FDP parliamentary group leader Gyde Jensen also distanced himself from Kubicki. “If there is war in Europe, we must stand together,” she said on Twitter. Nord Stream 2 had “always been a solo effort” with which Germany “offended our Eastern European neighbors”.
“Such a proposal strengthens false narratives,” Green Party defense politician Sara Nanni told the t-online.de portal on Friday, referring to Russia’s politics. Your party leader Omid Nouripour dismissed Kubicki’s proposal as pointless. “It doesn’t matter how many empty pipelines are open at the moment,” the Greens co-chairman told the German Press Agency on Friday in Berlin.
The head of the Federal Network Agency, Klaus Müller, has meanwhile called for gas to be saved further, despite the progress made in filling German gas storage facilities. One cannot rely solely on the memory, said Müller on Thursday evening in the ZDF program “Maybrit Illner”.
“These alone would not get us through a winter if it gets particularly cold or if Putin should turn off the gas completely,” emphasized Müller, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The gas storage tanks are currently almost 78 percent full. According to the regulation, it should be at least 75 percent on September 1st, at least 85 percent on October 1st and at least 95 percent on November 1st.
Müller compared storage to inflating a bicycle tire. The first percent are the easiest. Reaching 85 and 95 percent is physically more strenuous.
The winter can only be managed well with a triad, warned Müller. In addition to storage, these are the purchase from additional gas sources and savings. You will have to save at least 20 percent across all sectors.
If we are currently still dependent on Russian gas anyway, it wouldn’t matter which pipeline is used for it. Whether NS 1 or NS 2 does not change anything in terms of the purchase quantity or the money that we have to pay.
“Then we’ll get through the next few months without a shortage – with a bit of luck if the winter stays normal.” At the same time, Müller made it clear that you have to survive at least two winters in order to become independent of Russian gas afterwards.
